Traditional mainframe computer configurations provided for user interface to the computer through computer terminals which were directly connected by wires to ports of the mainframe computer. An example of such a terminal is an IBM 3270 or IBM 5250 type terminal which may communicate with a mainframe (or host) using a Telnet protocol. A Telnet protocol for a terminal such as an IBM 3270 or an IBM 5250 typically provides for structured grouping of data stream transmissions with a series of control characters followed by a block of displayable characters with a data stream comprising several sequentially transmitted control character blocks followed by displayable character blocks.
As computing technology has evolved, processing power has typically evolved from a central processing center with a number of relatively low-processing power terminals to a distributed environment of networked processors. Examples of this shift in processing include local or wide area networks which interconnect individual work stations where each workstation has substantial independent processing capabilities. This shift may be further seen in the popularity of the Internet which interconnects many processors and networks of processors through devices such as, for example, routers. Despite this migration to more distributed processing, central processing utilizing, for example, a mainframe computer with remote terminals, remains an important part of modern computing. Thus, central mainframe computers continue to play a role in the networked environment. Accordingly, structured protocols such as the Telnet protocol are still in use. These applications may communicate with users over networks to terminals such as an IBM 3270 or, alternatively, to microprocessor based work stations executing software applications known as terminal emulators which allow the computers to act as a terminal.
At the same time that processing power was becoming more distributed there was also an increase in the popularity of mobile computing. The use of laptops, notebooks, Personal Digital/Communication Assistants (PDAs/PCAs) and other portable devices has lead to an increase in demands for wireless communications. Wireless communications allows a user freedom to move within the wireless environment while remaining "connected" to a network. Furthermore, a wireless connection to a network allows a portable processor user the convenience of connecting to a network without having to plug into a docking station or other method of "hardwiring" to a network. However, wireless wide area networks, cellular communications and packet radio, however, suffer from common limitations such as the high cost per byte of communications, slow response time, low bandwidth and unreliability which all hamper use of wireless technology.
Even outside of the portable processing arena wireless communications have seen an increase in popularity. Thus, as a result of infrastructure limitations, cost or convenience, it is becoming more frequent that a "network" linking two devices wishing to communicate may include a low through-put component such as a wireless network link.
Communications from a terminal (or terminal emulator) to a host are typically disadvantaged particularly on lower through-put network legs, such as wireless legs (or highly congested legs which are effectively bandwidth limited), where bandwidth limitations result in slower response time for communications between the terminal emulators and the host application. In the extreme, protocol timeouts may even cause transmission errors and resulting retransmissions or even inability of the communication system to operate. Thus, utilizing wireless technology, or any low-speed communication technology, with terminal emulator or other structured type data protocols exacerbates the weaknesses of the wireless technology.